Writing a Blog Post that People Will Actually Read

This post idea came about today as I was searching Pinterest for some inspiration as we attempt to spruce up our back yard.

All I wanted were a few quick visual ideas on how to make the edging around our patio look a little more sophisticated.

The posts I kept coming up with were “71 Ideas on How to Improve your Home’s Curb Appeal”, “39 Budget Ways to Spruce Up Your Back Yard”.

People… I am a working mom with a blogging side hustle. I DON’T HAVE TIME to read 71 one things. Shit, I don’t have time to read 10! Can someone just show me a picture of how to make my damn patio pretty already?!

This struggle made a little light bulb go off in my head… I realized this is a key place bloggers tend to go wrong. The world is an incredibly busy place these days, and attention spans are shorter than ever. The desire to bring your readers good content can absolutely be shadowed by bringing your readers TOO MUCH CONTENT all at once.

I am in no way a super successful blogger. I have been writing about 6 months and just made my first $12 on here. However, a few new bloggers have reached out to me recently and ask some of my tips that get me traction and allow me to post so frequently, so here is the little bit of advice that I have to offer!

Start with a clear post name to draw your readers in. “Writing a blog post that people actually will read”… pretty self-explanatory, right? Pair this with a great featured image to increase your chances of getting a click.

Keep it simple and precise. What I often do is take my camera with me on a Sunday out and about and take pictures as I go. Say my day goes as follows: brunch at home, meet with friends to watch a baseball game, stop at a winery on the way home for a glass, friends come over for a BBQ. Instead of blogging my whole day in one post, I break it into bits. From this example, my blog post flow would go as follows: Monday – brunch recipe, Tuesday – baseball game outing, Wednesday – details on the winery we stopped at, Thursday – BBQ recipes we used over the weekend. From one fun day out and about I just put together 4 blog posts! Not only does this not drown your readers in long-winded posts that they click away from quickly, but it makes your job of coming up with new content super easy.

Pictures say 1,000 words. Have you heard that saying before? Well, time to apply it to your blog. Instead of being overly wordy, include pictures of your experience and let them do the talking. Do take a second to explain your picture, but do this in the caption instead of a paragraph and it will keep your post readable and easy to follow.

In summary, keep it short and sweet. Think a 2 minute read or less! If you feel like you have a lot to share, break it into several small posts instead of one big one. And lastly, use quality pictures to do some of your talking.

I hope you find this advice even just a little bit helpful, and if you would like to ask me any additional questions, please do not hesitate to reach out!!

X.O. – Abbey Co.

P.S.-

In case you are wondering what I shoot with, I use a very affordable and basic DSRL camera, the Nikkon D5300. The camera has built-in wi-fi, which I LOVE since through their app I can easily add pictures to my posts from my phone!! (Affilate links below)

Abbey Co. Seattle is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. I am not sponsored by any of these products, but am bringing you info on how to purchase them because I LOVE THEM!!!

Thanks for your tips! Sometimes I get overwhelmed searching for new content, or even photos to post since I don’t always blog about my daily adventures, or they are related to my son. (I’m uncomfortable posting pictures of him to a public blog. Dunno if I’ll ever shake that feeling.) Do you create your own featured images?

I totally understand your feelings on that. I decided to use pictures of her occasionally (never naked/bath type ones though) but my rule is I post them without our location and well after we have left the location I’m referencing. I do create my own featured images… mostly I just carry my DSLR with me if I go out and use those pictures… it is a lot easier than searching the Internet for them! For this post I used an app called “WordSwag” which is awesome!

This! Last night at 1 am I was trying to figure out how to purpose my old dining table. No I don’t want to know 69 ways of doing that. Just one. Just give me the damn answer. I think people have taken the idea that lists usually get more traffic, and then run way, way away with it. Good suggestions on writing a sturdy blog post.

You have totally done it again! I love your content. Your so open and so honest. I love the thought of doing smaller blogs in comparison to writing a whole bunch. I think this is how I became overwhelmed with mine. I’m going to try your strategy 😘😘 thank you so much!!

I need to be better about my blog…I can get so behind after work and my other projects. I just need to focus! Thanks! Although…I never thought to monetize my blog…I just want to share and give advice for travel and recipes that I love.

I honestly am quite behind right now too. I think that is common in the summer though, since the weather is nice and people find themselves outside enjoying the sun this time of year! If you decide you want to monetize it and have questions let me know, my knowledge is basic but I can at least give you a few tips to get you started!

So there are two things I am currently doing. To be able to do so, I had to upgrade my wordpress account to the premium, which was $20 or $30 I think? This allows me to turn on my “word ads”… so if you scroll to the bottom of my posts you will see an ad placed by wordpress. WordPress then pays me for the number of ad impressions I generate. Secondly, I signed up as an “Amazon Affiliate”. This allows me to link merchandise on Amazon to my blog, and if people purchase from my link I make commission. The Amazon affiliate program so far has been the winner when it comes to which makes more money. It costs me nothing to do the Amazon affiliate program, and the products are not marked up to the buyer, so it really is a win-win for everyone. I tell me friends to shop on Amazon from my ads all the time, no matter what they buy, if it came from my link I get a little cut 🙂

I do a combination of things. Firstly, I follow a lot of blogs that I am interested in on my WordPress Reader and comment/interact with them on there. I have found that just interacting with people with similar blogs and interests brings people to my blog. I also created a facebook page and instagram for my blog, and share my posts there regularly. On facebook I have joined a group of blogger networking pages where you can post things that need interaction and people will comment/share/etc. to help your page engagement. If you have facebook and would like me to add you to some of my groups I would be happy to! Are you in the Seattle area as well?